[Jeffrey Roberts]

I am 21 years old as I write this, and it amazes me that I even have a story to tell. I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease about 4 years ago but in that concentrated amount of time I have managed to experience an overwhelming majority of classic obstacles associated with ATD treatments and the race toward remission.

I am fascinated with this disease now. What caused it in me? Was it the plethora of vaccines? Was it something in the water, the food, the air? I refuse to believe that a healthy young child could've spontaneously developed such a cruel malformity of the magical and mysterious workings of the immune system. All I know is that I am most likely a victim, not of a random genetic glitch, but our very own highly-developed yet highly-streamlined society. The fact that I don't know where this came from is the most maddening thing that I've encountered yet.

Upon discovering a very large growth protruding out of the base of my neck at 17 years old, I was sent off to an endocrinologist who diagnosed my fate in about 30 seconds after palpating my thyroid, noticing my tremors, weight, eye lag, and incredibly high resting heart rate. He sent me off with a regimen of Tapizole and an appointment to see him in one month's time. My mother asked about diet, exercise, salt, anything that would be relavent to my condition that I might need to know. He blew her off. How silly... you must obviously be an alternative medicine freak without any basis in science to think that nutrition affects the outcome of treatment! ...

I happily went back to normal life, promptly gained 20 pounds (making me a normal weight of 123) within one month, and became lethargic and depressed. And so began my cycle over the next three years.

One thing I never would have realized about Grave's Disease is that it effects absolutely every organ system in your body and can turn the most level headed rational individual into a complete and utter basket case. My poor fiance almost became convinced that I was an immature, hypersensitive, wimpy weakling of a girl with every neurotic tendency of the Psycho Girlfriend from Hell. Little did he know that every cell in my body was under constant bombardment with messages desperately shouting "GO FASTER, GO FASTER!" little realizing that their work if left unchecked would lead to cardiac arrest and death for the entire cell colony (aka the body). It affects the GI tract, lungs, brain, heart, bones, nerves, genitals, hormones, glands, secretions, everything. It can make you feel guilty, furious, terrified, jittery, sad, excited, or worried for absolutely no reason. We know we're crazy, and we burst into tears because of it, but we can't change it. People who know us need to know this.

At the end of the third year with my doctor he became very impatient. His usual practice was to try ATDs for two years and immediately resort to RAI upon failure to achieve remission. "I've given you a whole extra year and your thyroid is still out of control. You can't keep coming back to me like this." HAHAHA!! I read a comic recently that showed a doctor talking to his patient. It read: "Mr. Jones, I already gave you six months to live and I've extended it twice. You can't keep coming back to me like this."

So. They scheduled me for RAI, without really asking me if I wanted to, and I was a nervous wreck for a week at least. Finally I called them back and told them that I needed to cancel my appointment for RAI and reschedule later when I figured out a good time. They left it at that, and I was able to breathe. I found an "integrated health specialist" in the city who switched me to PTU and put me on several different supplements and emphasized low stress and good nutrition. Within only 7 months I was almost in total remission.

I wish I could end the story there and transfer this post into the "remission stories" section. However I began allergy shots in July '06 since I am allergic to everything there is in the air. Almost instantly I became hyperthyroid and my antibodies shot up at a phenomenal rate. My health specialist was at a loss and charged too much for my appointments so I had to find another endo. He is like the first, only more willing to let me take ATDs. I am determined to finish the allergy shots since my parents are paying for them but I am getting married in July. As I have no money and a pre-existing condition, this may be my last chance to see whether desensitizing the body to allergies via immunotherapy will make remission easier to achieve. Meanwhile, the allergy shots seem to be making my disease worse and I am at a loss for what to think.

As with many people on ATDs I am constantly in transition. My life is normal, I have no symptoms, but my thyroid is huge which constantly reminds me of my condition. I wouldn't mind, except I really don't want my goiter in my wedding pictures.

What's to be done...

turtleneck wedding dress?


Sincerely,

Bess (Bobbles) Senior Dietetics Major at JMU

[Jeffrey Roberts]

Bess,

My son was diagnosed with Graves disease at the age of 18, after years of doctors only treating symptoms. He began with his symptoms at 15. His first symptom was joint pain for which they perscribed flexarill. He continued with the joint pain and muscle pain soon accompanied. To make a long story short, the more symptoms he got the more frustrated I got, becuase the doctors kept dismissing the symptoms that were previously accompanied. At 18, he lost 50 pounds and could not sleep for days, then could not wake up for days. Every time I brought him to the Dr. they gave him a drug test and that was it.

Finally, I brought him to a pediatrition. At this point, I was upset and dared the Dr. to give him another drug test. At this point, his face was starting to deform, he was down to 110 pounds (6 ft tall), his skin was grey, he had mood swings, shakes, rapid heard beat, profusely sweating, and had a distinct body odor. The pediatrition diagnosed him with graves disease and immediately send him to the endochronologist. Of course, the first course of action was medication for the thyroid and for his heard. The endochronologist said his body was consuming itself. After about 6 months, the medication was not working so we decided to try the RAI treatment. This worked like a charm for him. He is now 25 and has been in total remission since.

I hope this helps you. If your numbers are that out of control, I think you should give RAI some consideration.

Louisiana Mom